Wednesday, 9 August 2017

The X-Files: Season Eleven | August Update

It’s already a known deal that the eleventh season will return in 2018, but there still isn’t a specific release date. If we’re going by season 10 production time (July/June 2015) vs. release date (January 24, 2016), I’m guessing season eleven will be broadcast in February or March next year.

After mixed reviews of critics and reactions from fans, season eleven will not only be ten episodes instead of a measly six, but only two of said episodes will be mythology. That’s right kids, Christmas has come early; we’re getting eight stand-alones and two mythology episodes. I’m assuming the mythology-arcs will be presented in the premiere and the finale, but the main crux of this season will be the beautiful monster-of-the-weeks that the series became known for.

This information was announced at this year’s Television Critics Association by Fox Entertainment Chairman David Madden. Via Entertainment Weekly, Madden stated:

‘We’re really proud of last season,’ Madden says. ‘We had the responsibility to explain to the audience what had happened in the intervening seven or eight years. We’re free from that responsibility this time and can just plunge in and tell the stories. We’re having a lot of fun doing it. Eight of the episodes will be stand-alone stories, so they will be classic ‘Mulder and Scully plunging into new adventures.’

As much as I am relieved that there will less mythology this time around, I have no idea where Madden is getting ‘we had the responsibility to explain … what had happened in the intervening seven or eight years’. I’m not even going to go into the whole ‘estrangement’ bullshit, but it was self-explanatory after I Want to Believe. If the series had picked up like the film started out – Mulder having to go back to the FBI and Scully joining him – the mythology would have been much easier to explore in a believable and understandable way. Adding unneeded aspects such as the estrangement and everything else that was annoying and unnecessary in the mythology episodes of season ten ruined the experience of an amazing show such as this coming back after so long.

Funnily enough, Gillian just posted this photo whilst I was typing out the increased girl power in the X-Files production team:

If you’ve been in the loop of X-Files news as of late, you’ll remember that there was some drama surrounding the lack of women in the writers/director’s room. I say lack, there were a total of zero women writing and directing the show.

During the drama, Gillian tweeted that only two episodes out of the 202-episode and 2-film run were written/directed by women. Staggeringly, via Nerdist, it turns out that six women earned credit for writing for the show, but ‘three of them share a byline on the episode[s] in question, and one happens to be Gillian Anderson herself, who wrote the Dana Scully-centric episode ‘all things’.

As has been mentioned in several articles, this is just not fair. The show follows two protagonists, one of which is a strong, kickass female medical doctor who has become an icon for women all over the world.

It comes with sweet relief that there will be women in the writers/director’s room for season eleven. Karen Nielson, Kristen Cloke and Shannon Hamblin have been welcomed to the team, and will be the creative force behind two episodes of season eleven. Nielson, Cloke and Hamblin were also hired before the drama took place; it wasn’t in reaction to it which is a relief.

‘I don’t want to make excuses for anyone,’ she began. ‘I want to just explain that after 200-plus episodes of a show that has a very deep and specific mythology – where the fanbase has a very high expectation that the episodes are going to deliver those Easter eggs and be consistent with those original episodes – the tendency is to want to rely on the people [who] helped you on the original, when you’re just doing ten episodes.’

I mean, whatever. I don’t agree with this at all. There are millions of female fans of the show, the majority of which can write better narratives and story-arcs which can be attested through fanfic. Famed writer Vince Gilligan was a major fan of the show, submitted a script to Fox in during the early years of the shows run, which became the season two episode ‘Soft Light’. Gilligan came into the show after the beginnings of the ‘deep and specific mythology’ had been planned, and managed to become one of the show’s best writers. So why couldn’t female fans of the show do the same?

I really want to be happy about Nielson, Cloke and Hamblin being involved, but it seems bittersweet.

Its official, Annabeth Gish is returning alongside Mitch Pileggi (Walter Skinner) and the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis). There is also rumors of The Lone Gunmen making an appearance, and I swear I saw a photo on Instagram somewhere of Veronica Cartwright (Cassandra Spender) making a comeback also.

I’m not sure how many episodes Gish is returning for, but it’s gotta be more than one after her small role in the season ten finale. Hopefully Robert Patrick is able to balance his schedule with Scorpion to appear at some point in the new season; I still have a soft spot for Doggett.